ROE V WADE: 45 YEARS

ESPERANSA PROJECT ANNOUNCES INTRODUCTION OF NEW BILL

Below is a copy of the letter sent out this morning by THE ESPERANSA PROJECT. Informed consent for abortion legislation has proven to be the most effective way to stem the slaughter of abortion. Informed consent puts a booklet in to the hands of every woman seeking an abortion and gives her information about the nascent life within her as well as her risks, rights, and alternatives. Please read, understand, and support if you care about the slaughter going on in Tamuning. For more information about abortion on Guam go to www.esperansa.org

FIND INFORMATION BY INVESTIGATING ABORTIONS

Printed in the Pacific Daily News, May 26,  2013 

"Rendering a female consistently infertile for the purposes of commercial sex through traditional birth control is tedious and fraught with forgetfulness and mistakes, and often result in costly abortions. Abortifacients like Plan B will make it much easier to use and abuse girls and women by making it easier for sex traffickers and their customers to destroy the evidence."

Read the full article here or here if the link is no longer active.

THE REAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Published in the U Matuna, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Agana, Guam, 3/10/13.

The number of abortions on Guam were down slightly in 2012 - from 295 in 2011 to 275 last year. There are no changes in trends: most abortions occur during the first trimester, young adults ages 18-22 have the most abortions, and Chamorros account for  the largest share (62%) of abortions. But what do these numbers mean and how can we bring them down?

Some advocate for better education of our youth. But the youth, ages 13-17, account for only 2% of abortions. Some call for greater access to contraception. But contraception is more readily available than ever before. Others would like to see more opportunities for adoption. But there is already a waiting list at CPS of hopeful parents waiting to adopt. Some say we need to improve the economy, but in general, wealthier economies have higher abortion rates.

So, what to do? First, we must put everything on the table. For several years now, our abortion reports have defied the myths that abortions on Guam are either procured by teens or outsiders. They are not. As mentioned, teens account for only 2% of abortions, and “locals” account for more abortions than all other ethnicities combined.

As Catholics, we must further admit that since 85% of “locals” identify themselves as Catholic, abortion is a Catholic problem. Also, for a culture that still largely prides itself as family-oriented and one which has traditionally cared for the children of relatives who were unable to care for their own, we must ask why the number of Chamorro children aborted by their mothers continues to escalate even while the percentage of the Chamorro population on Guam continues to decline.

In short, we must get rid of our myths before we can proceed. I personally tire of hearing “but they’re Catholic” when one learns of a certain lawmaker’s obstruction of pro-life legislation, or the now tired and transparent mantra about the culture being “family-oriented” given the staggering incidence of family violence we are constantly confronted with. Even more wearisome is the talk about the need to reach our teens when it’s the adults who account for 98% of abortions.

Our first reaction is usually “we have to talk about this more.” But as Catholics, we already talk about it “more”: no organization has defined doctrine condemning abortion as clear as ours, no group organizes more public protests, and no group is as active in the charitable ministries which address the social issues thought to be the causes of abortion. Yet our abortion numbers rise, and Catholics throughout the U.S., not just Guam, increasingly accept abortion even while the rest of the nation is heading in the other direction.

Some think that the number of abortions procured by Catholics is high because of the the Church’s teaching against the use of contraception. However, access to contraception has not only NOT slowed the abortion rate, it can be easily proved that contraception’s failure rate has contributed to increased abortions. According to the FDA, condom use, the most common form of contraception, will result in pregnancy 18% of the time, and oral contraceptives, 9% of the time. And of course - thinking “I’m protected” - contraceptive use leads to more frequent sexual activity which increases the number of contraceptive failures leading to more abortions.

It is difficult to battle the rate of abortion when one of its main causes (contraceptive use) is seen as the solution. But telling the truth about contraception’s failure and battling government initiatives to further inject it as a social solution is critical to any effort to decrease abortion. 

However, I hold little hope for this. Contraception is a “sacred cow”. Our culture desires sex without consequences - and contraception, despite its glaring failure rate and the monstrous spread of disease, proposes to hold the magic key.

Of course, in the end, women are the losers. Contraception liberates men not women. It’s the woman who end up with a “problem pregnancy” and in the abortion clinic when contraception fails. And in many cases she is drug there by the man who impregnated her. 

The Elliot Institute documents that nearly 64% of abortions are coerced. And when the woman is unwilling, she is often beaten or killed: homicide is the leading killer of pregnant women. Also, coerced abortions may account for why the post-abortive woman is six times more likely to commit suicide. 

Yet, often the most ardent advocates of increased legal protections for women are also the most ardent advocates of increased access to contraception and abortion. Contraception enables bad men to more easily use and discard women. And when contraception fails, abortion allows men to destroy the evidence. How fortunate for them that so many women believe these both to be “rights”.  

The 2012 Guam Abortion Report can be accessed at www.esperansa.org.

HORROR AT THE BLUE HOUSE AND BILL 52-31

We now know from news reports that the owner of the Blue House not only forced Chuukese women into prostitution, she also forced at least one woman to get an abortion when she became pregnant. 

An informed consent law like that proposed by Bills 54-30 and 52-31 would require a pregnant woman who arrives at an abortion clinic to be given information on the alternatives to abortion, a phone number to call for help, and a 24 hour waiting period. 

Had this woman been able to call for help the Blue House slave ring might have been discovered earlier. But there is no law, and there was no number.

During the debate over Bill 54-30, opponents of the bill argued that we had no business interfering with a woman’s choice, that abortion was a decision between a woman and her doctor. Obviously, this was not the case for the slaves of the Blue House.

In fact, this is not the case for many women. A 2004 study published in Medical Science Monitor showed that 64% of women who aborted felt pressured, and 65% showed symptoms of trauma. In fact, a 1998 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association disclosed that murder is the number one cause of death for pregnant women. 

The report Forced Abortion in America revealed also that post-abortive women have 31% more health complications, a 65% higher risk of clinical depression, a 3.5 times higher risk of death from all causes, and are 7 times more likely to commit suicide compared to women giving birth. Even the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reported that some 30 percent of women have an abortion because someone else, not the woman, wants it. 

While abortion continues to masquerade as a “women’s rights” issue, abortion is really all about men, and freeing men to use and abuse women without consequence - other than a quick trip to the abortion clinic with girlfriend in tow when there’s a slip up. 

Yet our lawmakers continue to lecture us about a woman’s right to choose and challenge legislation that would force abortionists to advise women of their real rights: the right to require the father to pay for her medical care and financially assist her in raising her child, the right to Medicaid benefits for maternal care if she qualifies, the right to know about alternatives to abortion including adoption, and the right to know of the psychological and physiological risks of abortion.

Do we really think that an abortionist is going to give a paying client the phone and tell her to call a crisis pregnancy center? or CPS so she learn about the availability of adoption? Also, many women who are harmed by abortion do not seek damages from the abortionist because they do not want their abortion to be known. Thus there is need for regulation like that proposed by Bill 52-31. 

Informed consent legislation was first authorized by the U.S. Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 and has been adopted by more than thirty states. After more than four years of trying, it is hoped that Guam lawmakers will finally see that there is nothing wrong and everything right with ensuring that women have all the information possible prior to an abortion so that their choice can be a true choice.

As of this writing, Senator Rodriguez is once again attempting to report out Bill 52-31 in the hopes of getting it passed before the end of the legislative term. We will be watching.

But back to the Blue House case. The Governor has rightly ordered a deeper investigation into a possible police cover up, but he should also order an investigation into the abortion(s) that may be connected to the case. 

Physicians are “mandated reporters”. They are required by law to report abuse or signs of trauma and they are trained to recognize it. It’s hard to imagine that a pregnant, frightened, enslaved Chuukese immigrant, forced into prostitution, and living under daily threats of abuse of every sort, didn’t raise a red flag the moment she walked into the abortionist’s office.

A PERSONAL NOTE: I am well aware of how hard it is to read about abortion. It’s tough to write about it. But as Fr. Frank Pavonne of Priests for Life says: “Where abortion is hidden, abortion is tolerated.” And it has been hidden much too long on Guam. We are at a crisis point. We are aborting one out of every ten pregnancies with the majority being Chamorro. With a waiting list of adoptive parents at Child Protective Services, let’s see what we as a community can do to at least let those mothers know that there are alternatives to abortion and lifelong regret. Let’s pass Bill 52-31.